How Riot balances their game

I'm not saying I agree or disagree with how things are done. These are simply my observations on how Riot balanced their champs (and items). It is impossible to make this game 100% balanced. Some champs will always be strong, and others not so strong. Every champ is given their time to shine in the meta (some champions are allowed to shine longer than others, because Riot likes some champions more than others). When Riot nerfs or buffs a champion, they don't care if it's the right thing to do. They simply want (or don't want) a champion to be played more (or less) and will continue to make changes until they achieve this. Unfortunately this often leads to changes we're unhappy with (Skarner, Cassiopeia, etc), but that's how balance works with this game.